I love our sport! I love everything about triathlon and today my passion grew even stronger! This week I had the pleasure of meeting a select few kids that would be racing in the 3rd annual Nashville Kids Triathlon. I traveled across town to Holy Rosary Elementary to conduct a transition clinic for a group of 25 5th and 6th graders. The kids asked great questions and there was plenty of swag to go around. The excitement in their faces and enthusiasm in their voices was absolutely incredible!

The orange cones served as the transition rack as I demonstrated how to set up the area. The kids were were on the edge of their seats and wanted to know every single detail about setting up a fast transition area!

By the time I left the school the kids were about to pop out of their seats. They could not wait for the race on Sunday. It was this very sight that caused my love for triathlon to grow. I wish you could have seen the looks on these faces!!

Race morning finally rolled around and we found ourselves in the middle of all the excitement that carries nerves, emotions and expectations! We started at the pool and I took my position at the end of the lane yanking kids out by their armpits! Next we moved to T1 and the younger kids were tripping over themselves with excitement. I think I saw one kids trying to pull his shirt on over his helmet! Last but certainly not least, we facilitated T2 and saw the kids off on the run. The course was contained inside of a park in the middle of the city. The area was not big, but the kids were making great use of the space. I’m not sure who was more excited, the parents, kids or me!!

The awards ceremony was the best part no question! I had the honor of holding the mic so it was up to me to dictate the pace. We were gathered in an amphitheater and the crowd was close to 1000.  Bruce and I were handing out official Timex SWAG and the kids were eating it up!!

I have been to enough races to know that the quicker an awards ceremony goes, the happier EVERYONE is! I rolled through the ages groups starting at age 6 and ending with 15. I brought the kids up on the podium and the parents flocked with their cameras. The entire process was so fun to experience as the kids were outside of their minds with excitement. This entire experience was simply refreshing and it makes me appreciate the position I hold on this wonderful triathlon team. Timex is the standard and Bruce and I got to display our great name today to incredibly impressionable minds. Thank you Nashville Kids Triathletes for reminding me of the joy that comes along with Swim, Bike, Run!!!

It’s exactly 12 hours before the 2013 Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas gun goes off as I write this and first year TIMEX Multisport Athlete, Guillaume De Zwirek is somewhere in The Woodlands, Texas laying down with his neon green compression socks on.

Friday afternoon Guillaume sat down for a short interview to share his ‘road to Ironman Texas’ story and his goals for Saturday.

You’ll be able to follow Guillaume’s progress throughout the day on his Twitter account thanks to his Mom: https://twitter.com/guidezwirek

You can follow my race day video coverage here on Ironman.com and see many more athlete interviews on my Youtube channel below including an ENTIRE PLAYLIST featuring Timex Athletes.

See more than 1,000 swim, bike, run and athlete interview videos here on our Youtube Channel. And please follow me here on Twitter @IMDaveErickson

Living in a foreign country has its challenges — everything is unfamiliar and you have to throw out all assumptions about basic things. Over time, the daily struggle can overwhelm you if you don’t look at the big picture. So every now and then, I have to remind myself that living in Europe has given me so many incredible opportunities that most people only dream about. It is a bit surreal to think, “I’m going to the south of France for a training camp” or “I’m flying to Mallorca for a half Ironman.” Just like in racing, when the end result is beyond your expectations, the small daily battles seem less significant.

I was very lucky that Bart Van Schijndel, Timex’s International Marketing Manager, was able to get me a spot in the Mallorca 70.3 since the race was already sold out. After getting my race kit in the mail a few days before, I was very excited for my first race as a member of the Timex Multisport Team.

I really knew nothing about Mallorca other than looking at the course map and arranging my transportation from the airport to the hotel. So I was just amazed at the clear blue water, beautiful beach that stretched for miles, and the exciting waterfront area with so many outdoor cafes and restaurants. This was the first time I’ve done a destination race, and I can definitely see the appeal of turning a race trip into a vacation.

Ready for a practice swim in Alcudia Bay!

On race day, all the women took off in one wave start. Thankfully, the initial scrum wasn’t too bad and we were soon off into the Mediterranean. Given all the swim training I have been doing, plus the advantage of the Helix wetsuit, I was hoping that I could turn in a respectable swim. As I looked at my watch while running up the beach, I was both pleased and relieved.

The transition zone was set up running down an entire two lane road. With over 3000 athletes in the race, it stretched on for quite a while.

3000 bikes/3 aisles = a really long transition

The bike course was one lap and included a 600m elevation gain in the middle part of the course. I was very pleased with my decision to add the Di2 basebar shifters to my Quintana Roo CD 0.1. That made a huge difference towards the top of the climb when there were some rollers before we began the descent. Going back down the mountain was even steeper than on the way up. Fortunately, I got a lot of decending practice at my training camp a few weeks earlier. Even better was that the road was closed to traffic!

Once the climb and descent were over, it was mostly flat for the last 40K. The key word there is “mostly.” Tim Stutzer, my fellow Timex rookie, had been at a training camp on the island for two weeks, and warned me about the turn in the village of Muro: after a slight downhill for miles the course made a right angle turn smack into a 10% uphill grade. So I shifted into my granny gear and prepared for the worst. Thank goodness for the cheering crowds, because I remember thinking “it would be embarrassing to have to get off and walk up this hill.” Somehow that 500m seemed worse than the miles of climbing I did earlier. As the course headed back to Alcudia, the headwind was inconsequential.

Nearing the transition, I could start to see the crowds lining the streets. This was only a preview of what was to come on the run course.

Now picture running here with several hundred people lining the path.
The run course was 3 laps, with about a half mile on the path along the beach. I was amazed at the amount of people out cheering on the first part of the course. Knowing I’d pass through there three more times was a huge motivator. I was also very glad that the weather stayed relatively cool. At the end of each lap, volunteers handed out a different color wrist band depending on which lap you completed. I loved getting to the wrist band station, since it was a great physical reminder of how far I’d come. As soon as I got my final wrist band, I was pumped knowing that I had just less than half a mile to go. The final turn off to the finish chute was a left turn onto the beach. It had quickly turned into a pit of loose sand, but I managed to avoid wiping out in the finishing stretch!

Overall, I was so proud to represent Timex and totally enjoyed this race. It was extremely well organized and the amount of resources required was unbelievable. The volunteers were so upbeat that it was a joy to hear them cheering everyone on.

I owe a huge thanks to Bart for the race entry, Tristan for his timely delivery, and Tim for the course recon and bike setup assistance. You guys are awesome.

It’s been a long time since I’ve actually raced hence it’s been a long time since my last race report.  Last season ended on a sour note with an injury the day before Buffalo Springs Half Ironman (yep, I said the day before the race) and then losing my job in late September.  Not exactly the way you want to go out in 2012 but as the old saying goes, “It is what it is”.  So, onward and upward into 2013.  My first race in almost eight months happened two (2) weeks earlier in New Orleans.  It wasn’t a bad effort down in NOLA but it certainly wasn’t a great one.  Ended up in the top 50 overall and second in the 45-49 age group.  More importantly I earned my slot for WTC 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Really looking forward to getting back to that race and exacting some revenge based on my last performance there!   My time was, for me, a pedestrian 4:27:35.  Decent swim, terrible bike and a salvageable run.  I’ll concentrate on racing Half Ironmans in the second half of this season.

The race in Knoxville, Tennessee was, in one word, wet!  I drove over on Friday with a friend of mine, David Callahan, to take part in the fund-raiser for Nicole and Michael Gross and Erika Brannock.    All three (3) of these individuals were injured during the Boston Marathon bombing.  Nicole Gross was a former UT swimmer.  Now, as all of you know, I am no fan of the University of Tennessee.  But, I will put my differences aside to aid one of my fallen swimming/triathlon friends in a heartbeat.  The fund-raiser was a 5k run with all proceeds going to the family to help with their mounting medical expenses.  I believe I heard after the event that $25,000.00 was raised.  If you’re interested in helping the family out you can do so at http://www.bestrongstaystrong.net/.

Now, of course, the weather on Friday was absolutely beautiful!  Nice and sunny with the temps a bit cooler than normal but certainly not cold.  That would all change over the next 24 hours.  By race day a cold front had moved in and brought with it cooler temperatures and a lot, and I mean a lot, of rain.  Race day saw temps in the low 50′s, a steady rain and not even a hint of sunshine.  Fun! Fun! Fun!  To add insult in injury the river we’d be swimming in was hovering between 57-59 degrees.  As Tallahassee(Woody Harrelson) would so often say in ZombieLand, “Time to Nut Up or Shut Up”.

For me the race was all about getting to the finish line as fast as I could without incident.  There would be no chances taken on the bike today.  The bike course at REV3 Knoxville is a legitimate course.  Lots and lots of climbs with either sharp left or right turns at the bottom of hills.  Add to that a couple of off- camber turns at the end of long hills and, if you weren’t paying attention, your day would be cut short.  So, keeping the “rubber side down” on the bike was paramount for me on race day.  I wasn’t going to risk my entire season on one Olympic Distance race in early May.

So, how did my race play out?  Well, I had a cold and uneventful swim.  16:45 for a 1.5k swim that saw the major part of it swimming with the current of the river.  I wore my neoprene cap under my swim cap so I didn’t really feel cold in the water.  Well, let me rephrase that, because of my awesome Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit and my neoprene cap my body and head weren’t cold.  My face, hands and feet were frozen.  Which made the long run into T1 very interesting.  Not being able to feel your feet running to T1 felt like I had two (2) porkchops tied to the bottom of my feet.  Reached my rack, threw on my Bell helmet (thankfully with a visor in front), grabbed my bike and away I went.  I was able to get my feet into my shoes after the dismount line fairly easily when riding my bike.  I was pretty happy with this as I hadn’t done it in quite some time.

The bike ride for me was also (and thankfully) uneventful.  Trust me when I say I rode like an “old lady”.  My QR CD0.1 was loaded up for speed but I wasn’t turning it loose.  For the first time this season I was rocking the new Shimano C75′s.  I can’t really give you a great synopsis of how the wheels fared because riding like an “old lady” wouldn’t allow me to give a fair representation of how they did.  I’m sure they were but I just couldn’t tell.  Throughout the entire bike I was very cautious.  People were flying by me on the downhills but I’d catch back up to them on the straight-aways and the climbs.  Again, I concentrated more on not going down than going fast.  I know, I know, that’s a rather wimpy way to ride but I’m getting old and evidently soft in my old age.  Overall bike time was a smoking 1:05:11 for a blazing average speed of 22.2 mph.  But, more importantly I didn’t go down.  Which is more than I can say for a lot of the other riders on the course.  Total carnage!  During the latter part of the bike I could feel both my arms and legs locking up because of the cold temps.  At one point in time on the bike I was shivering enough to make a pretty good martini (shaken, not stirred) for James Bond.  I was also starting to yawn like there was no tomorrow so I knew I was probably in the initial stages of hypothermia.  I couldn’t wait to get off the bike.  Well, that was until I got off the bike.  Here’s a pic of me heading out on the bike.  Notice that awesome position!  :-)

Coming back into T2 I jumped off my bike, dropped my bike because I was so cold, picked up my bike and then lumbered to where my rack was.  For the next 30-45 seconds I fumbled with getting my helmet strap disconnected so I could take my helmet off.  I couldn’t do it.  My hands were so cold that I couldn’t get my strap disconnected.  Finally I just pulled the strap forward and shimmied underneath it and got my helmet off.  Next came the shoes, which I’m hear to tell you, were just as hard to get on with frozen, shaking hands.  I was finally able to get my shoes on and headed out on the run.  Because the transition area was in a parking lot (thank goodness) all of your gear to start out with was dry.  It stayed that way for .2 seconds once you got out from under the parking deck.  So, with frozen feet soaking feet I lumbered through a blazing 41:52 1ok.  I can’t remember when I ran that slow.  My legs felt like someone had poured concrete in them.  Trust me when I say I was glad to finish the race and be done.  Here’s a couple of running pics and finisher pics for your viewing pleasure:

Overall time was 2:09:40.  Not particularly fast but I finished.  I did manage to eek out a win in my age group and, I believe was 16th amateur overall.

Cam Dye laid down a blazing fast 1:47:53 for the overall win.  Considering the conditions that is amazing!  Former Timex team mate Lauren Goss was able to earn her first pro victory on the women’s side in 2:03:55.  Way to go Lauren!

All-in-all I had a good time and finished the race unscathed.  Next up, Leon’s Triathlon in Hammond, IN.  I’ll be representing Tennessee in the Best of the US competition there.  I’m just hoping that the weather cooperates a bit more than it did in Knoxville.

Until that time, Train smart, Train safe and Race fast!

Yesterday was awesome!  I had the opportunity to spend an hour with Davis Van Allen, age 6; in his preparations for his first triathlon. 25 yard swim, 1k bike, 500 meter run.  In prepping to work with him, it was so much fun going back to the very basics of triathlon. Working with primarily adults, elites and an Olympic Hopeful; training plans, fatigue levels, and technique can get quite complex.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it.  Today was just different and I loved it.

When Davis arrived, he was a little apprehensive to say the least.  I can’t say I expected any different, but it was my job to get him comfortable and ultimately excited about his first race.

We set up transition and did a dry run of the course, other than the swim.  It was awesome to see him start on the run in an all out sprint and taxed not only himself, but his father who was on the course with him.  Lesson number 1 in pacing achieved!  Then we continued to work the transitions over and over.

Davis was very good at taking instruction, the hardest thing for him was he wanted to jump on his bike at his transition spot rather than run it out to the mount line.  This was something we spent some extra time on. During the process, I saw some excitement, enthusiasm and competitiveness begin to creep in…. ;)

By the end of our time together, little Davis was on fire about triathlon!  He was confidant and ready for race day!  I have to say this last picture captures it all!  And the best part is, when we were packing up to head out, he wouldn’t put that PowerBar in the bag with all his other gear.  He was ready to indulge after a hard session ;)  I love making an impact on anyone, and I am sure he will be fond of Timex and PowerBar for many years to come!  Good Luck, Davis!  Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com